Solomon became a big brother just a few months ago and even more recently turned two years old. Oh My is he adorable and getting cuter every day!! I love his greenish hazel eyes and somber expressions. For a more relaxed, casual feel to his 2 year portraits, we went to the nearby Botanical Gardens and let him play and explore. Toddlers, I feel, are happiest when they feel free to roam about. It worked because he quickly relaxed and played and had fun. Happy kid, happy parents, happy photographer.

Here's a few pictures from his session at the Asheville Botanic Gardens.

At first he was really shy and stuck pretty close to his Dad. A few crackers also seemed to help.

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Soon enough he was running around, laughing, being silly and exploring the world around him.

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Then his Mom quickly changed his clothes and we walked down to the creek to explore. Throwing rocks in the creek was a favorite but the water must have felt too chilly to play in. He did not want to get his toes wet!

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I love the haziness in this photo. And those overalls and hat--Mom couldn't have picked a more perfect outfit!

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I've been photographing this young lady since she was 6 months old and every year she gets more beautiful! We went to her house one sunny Sunday afternoon at the beginning of May and let all of our kids play while I took photos of Sara, who is now 5 years old!

I love being able to photograph kids at their own house. It's not only the kids who are are more relaxed and at-ease in front of the camera, but I find that the parents are much calmer as well. They haven't had to get their child (or children) all dressed up, load up all their kids (if more than one) into the car and stress they their little girl might mess up her hair on the way to the photo session. Then, once arriving at said location, parents don't have to stress about wrangling their other children while one is being photographed. That, and the scenery in the photo also serves as a memory of home for the parents! So, if you're thinking about having portraits done, why not ask your photographer if your home might work well for a few portraits.

Here's a few photos of her recent session, including two of the parent's favorites. And I just for fun, I thought I would include a favorite from her 6 month session (back in the day when I had just moved back to America and only had a white backdrop and a black backdrop).

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a_MG_1514 You can view the rest of her session here: http://www.carvillphotography.com/sara5years

Wintertime. Not the ideal time to do an outdoor session. However, the weather this particular day was actually really nice and the sun was shining! It was a gorgeous morning. This sweet family didn't want a big session, just a few casual shots to document the journey of pregnancy. Soon a second baby boy would join their family. Here's the client's favorite pics from the session.

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a_MG_1687 You might think this would be much better if the Dad was looking up, but I tend to embrace those in-between moments. I like the casual nature of this family photo and so did the family!

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